Box Score
TAMPA, Fla. - Senior forward
Darrien Mack netted 19 of his career-high 31 points in the second half and the Eckerd College men's basketball program overcame a sluggish start to bury Paine (Ga.) College in the University of Tampa Classic on Saturday afternoon, 75-61.
Mack finished a crisp 11-of-14 from the field while also sinking 9-of-13 tries from the free throw line. He surpassed his previous personal-best scoring total of 21 points recorded against Rollins College (Feb. 4) last season.
Junior guard
Alex Bodney forged through a bout of food poisoning to score 13 points along with junior guard
Josh Snodgrass. Mack and Snodgrass led the team's effort on the glass with eight rebounds each.
Senior guard
Woody Taylor dished out nine assists for an offense that shot nearly 50 percent in the game, one shy of matching his career high.
“We got off to a slow start and they got off to a fast start,” said EC Head Coach
Tom Ryan. “When you mix those things together, they did not work well in our favor. We started playing better defense around the eight-minute mark in the first half. We kept that intensity up in the second half and shots started to fall in.”
The Tritons (5-2, 0-1 SSC) were surprised by the Lions (2-3, 0-0 SIAC) early in the first half after a 20-8 run from the opening whistle had Paine on cruise control.
PC's Kenny Fluellen nailed a trio of three-point buckets from the corner in the first half alone and Darius Smith came off the bench to hit a three from the other corner that had his team up by 10 for the first time.
But the Tritons turned the tide after a Fluellen triple that gave the Lions their largest lead of 16 with 4:04 left in the first half.
EC put together a 15-1 run to significantly close the gap and trail by just two at the break, 40-38.
The surge continued into the second half and swelled into an eventual 27-1 run that had the Tritons threatening to pull away from their opponent.
Mack scored the first two buckets of the final frame and his steal/layup put Eckerd by 10 with 16:38 remaining. He scored nine of the team's first 13 points in the second half while the Tritons worked on establishing control.
Freshman
Jerrick Stevenson came up with a steal and went coast-to-coast to finish with a layup that restored a double-digit EC advantage. The Tritons enjoyed their largest margin in the lead with 4:03 after a Snodgrass basket put Eckerd ahead by 17.
The Lions were ice cold from the field thanks to EC's staunch defensive pressure and a nine-minute drought without a field goal ended when Jerrel Stephenson dunked over five minutes into the second half. Paine had seven field goals in the second half.
After shooting just under 60 percent in the first half, Paine labored to a 27 percent clip in the second half.
Bodney finished 4-of-6 from the field and hit his 13th three-point shot of the season to open the game's scoring. He is coming off his career-high best scoring output of 25 points against Tuskegee (Ala.) University to conclude the St. Petersburg Sports Alliance Series.
The Tritons continue the Tampa Classic tomorrow afternoon in the Martinez Center against Miles (Ala.) College with a 2 p.m. scheduled tip.
